Kamal Ghorui
One vote, two Tirupatturs: DMK flags postal ballot mix-up after HC order (Image credit: ANI)
NEW DELHI: The DMK on Tuesday said due to the possible mix-up of postal votes between Tiruppattur in Sivaganga district and Tiruppattur district near Vellore, the Madras High Court has restrained a TVK MLA from voting in the assembly floor test.While TVK’s Seenivasa Sethupathi secured 83,375 votes in the election, DMK’s K R Periyakaruppan got 83,374 votes. Sethupathi was declared elected by a margin of just one vote.“If the single disputed vote is counted in the DMK’s favour, the tally would become equal, requiring a toss of a coin to decide the election,” DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai told PTI.The court has directed the MLA to refrain from voting until the writ petition reaches a conclusion.The fight between DMK and TVK dragged on till 1:30 am on counting day. Periyakaruppan led till round 16, but from round 17 onwards, Sethupathy gained a lead. He led with 819 votes when counting of EVMs ended, securing 83,010 votes against Periyakaruppan’s 82,191 votes.With the addition of postal ballots — 1,183 for Periyakaruppan and 365 for Sethupathy — the final count stood at 83,374 for Periyakaruppan and 83,375 for Sethupathy.District election officer K Porkodi told TOI that mock polls for two EVMs were not cleared while the control unit of one EVM was not properly functioning. Hence, votes had to be counted from VVPAT.“When the margin is one vote, as per ECI guidelines, we were made to re-verify the 306 rejected postal ballots,” the collector said. After re-verification, no valid votes were found to change the margin.The returning officer decided not to order a recount, providing a written explanation for the decision.
